The Giants held an introductory press conference to present new manager Bob Melvin today. It was announced that both Melvin and president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi have agreed to deals that run through 2026, with Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic among those to relay the news. While Melvin’s deal is signed, chairman Greg Johnson said that Zaidi and the club have “agreed in principle” to a deal through 2026 which will be announced shortly, video courtesy NBCS. Zaidi announced that they will give the Padres no compensation for acquiring Melvin, per John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle.
Melvin was manager of the Padres until now, on a deal that ran through 2024. It wasn’t known if his reported move to the Giants would affect his contract, but today’s news provides some clarity on that front. The news about Zaidi is also particularly noteworthy since his current deal was also set to expire after 2024. Though he hasn’t put pen to paper yet, it seems he will secure himself a bit of runway as well.
The Giants have been somewhat inconsistent since Zaidi was hired at the end of the 2018 season. The club finished below .500 in the two seasons prior to him joining the club and would post two more losing seasons in 2019-2020. That was followed by an incredible jump to 107 victories in 2021, though that club was eliminated by the Dodgers in the NLDS. They then dropped to 81-81 in 2022 and were expected to be ambitious in the 2022-2023 offseason as they looked to get back into contention.
They did indeed set their sights high, coming close to landing Aaron Judge before he wound up back with the Yankees. The Giants then pivoted to another free agent superstar in Carlos Correa, agreeing to a 13-year, $350MM deal, but the Giants balked at Correa’s medicals and walked away before making that deal official. By then, most of the top free agents had already signed elsewhere and the Giants eventually spread their money around to several mid-tier guys, including Ross Stripling, Sean Manaea, Michael Conforto, Mitch Haniger, Taylor Rogers and Luke Jackson.
Though the club hovered around the postseason picture for parts of 2023, they ultimately slid down the standings and finished at 79-83. It was expected that 2024 was going to be a sort of make-or-break year for the staff, with both Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler believed to be on contracts that would expire after that season. As recently as mid-September, Johnson voiced his support for the Kapler/Zaidi duo to return in 2024. But Kapler was fired just a couple of weeks later and has now been replaced by Melvin. It seems that Johnson and the club want to give this new duo some continuity going forward and will lock them in for three years.
Despite the inconsistent results on the field, it’s understandable why the club felt it would need to present a united front. Signing a marquee free agent figures to be a big priority again this offseason and it should help with the pitch if they have things in order. Many free agents will go to whichever team offers the most money, but if they receive somewhat comparable offers from multiple clubs, other factors could act as dealbreakers. Signing onto a club with a lame duck president could have perhaps created some uncertainty in the minds of prospective signees, but today’s announcement should take that off the table.
Even if the Giants are successful in landing a big name free agent or two this winter, the path back to contention will still have challenges. The Dodgers continue to be a powerhouse and should have plenty of money to spend this offseason. The Diamondbacks are headed to the World Series right now and are loaded with young talent to keep them in good shape going forward. The Padres are a bit of a mystery at the moment but still have plenty of star power. It will be an interesting period for the Giants but the ticking clock isn’t quite as loud as it appeared to be coming into today.
Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.
Here comes the Farhan haters in one two three..
Is it not deserved? I think this guy is overrated
Melvin did more harm than good withbthe Padres in 2023
Aj preller is on line three and wants someone to boss around and do his blow with… Melvin was like “thanks man, but I’ll join the Melvins….”
And as soon as everyone left the A’s, they were well above average stars. Melvin sucks. Giants will finish 4th for the next 3 years before firing Melvin.
Steven, I totally agree.
Apparently wanting more than 1 winning season out of 5 years in a top 5 market makes you a hater. The more you know..
you do realize where the team was when he took over don’t you?
3 losing seasons in a row one of which was just shy of 100 losses, underwater roster with overpriced contracts and flirting with last place in the farm system with no one on the horizon. If you think that is a recipe where bringing in a president of baseball ops suddenly gives you a winning recipe you are fooling yourself – also it was 2 out 5 years with a winning record or I should say not a losing and the Pythagorean shows 3 winning seasons, just 1 where they went to the post season.
Overpriced contracts before Farhan you said? What’s been the difference with Zaidi? Conforto-36million 2 yrs. Haniger -43 million 3yrs. Manaea and Stripling- 25 million each 2 yrs. Pederson 19 million 1 year.
Total= 149 million.
Not included; DeSclafani’ s 36 million for 3 yrs.
If this is not overpaying, what is it then?
It’s overpaying because the players involved did not produce or because they were injured.
To begin with, MLB salaries are obscene.
…the length of the contracts?
Pete’s view; In the case of Conforto, he didn’t play in 2022 and Haniger didn’t play much in 2022, both because of injuries. Still, they got too much $ in contracts, I think(79 millions) . Too big of a risk. If players get injured after signing, well, that’s just bad luck for the organization. And if healthy players don’t produce after signing, that’s not the organization’s fault.
Exactly.
I wouldn’t have signed Conforto, certainly not at the figure or with that damn opt-out (which, in this case, I hope he takes).
But I think Haniger is another matter. When healthy the guy hit 39 HRs, and that was only 3 years ago this coming season. And his splits are good. Not his fault he got plunked. Let’s see when he’s healthy, that’ll determine if the contract was an overpay.
Haniger is never healthy though, so you will be waiting a long time for that.
TMQ — Check your facts.
2017— .282, .352 OBP, 16 Hrs, 47 RBI (in only 96 games, not injured)
2018— .285, .366 OBP, 26 HRs, 38 doubles, 93 RBI
2021— .253, .318 OBP, 39 HRs, 23 doubles, 100 RBI
Even in his (freak) injury years—with the exception of last year—he has been productive. A healthy Haniger is a very important bat (with good splits). You can’t fault him for having Flaherty break his forearm, can you?
It was those “overpriced contracts” who were the primary contributors to the 107 win team, all of whom were acquired by the Sabean/Evans regime.
So which is it? Did Farhan inherit a dumpster fire or did he take advantage of in house talent? Either way, he deserves no credit.
And don’t mince my words. 1 winning season in 5 years is correct. No one cares about pythagoreans theorem. Zero playoff series wins in 5 years isn’t acceptable in this market and doesn’t deserve an extension.
So either admit Farhan has failed or admit that he inherited a talented team that he only got 1 good season out of. He hasn’t developed one established major leaguer either.
Patrick Bailey and his .644 OPS and league lead among catchers in errors cannot be the jewel of your 5 year “rebuild”. As much as Giants fans want to hype this guy up, he has underperformed Joey Bart at the plate.
On top of all this the Giants have lost half their fan base and will continue to do so as long as Farhan is around. Times up.
La Stella?
“Trading away veterans”?? Who would he have traded. I can’t think of one veteran another team would want from SF. It’s a team of AAA players. And I’m a giants fan!
No. I can’t agree. The Giants have quite a few very useful players. It’s just without the everyday stars they don’t amount to more than a .500 team. But there are quality pieces to trade.
so who would you have traded and for who? most of the time these are dream scenarios where the person who wants their team upgraded thinks they can get a superstar for guys that are pulling the roster down
I think you are misquoting me. I responded to “Deke.” And I never said, the Giants would score a “superstar” in a trade, but players like Yaz (who is very underrated in my opinion), Wilmer, Sabol, Slater, LaMonte and even Schmitt would have value for lots of teams. Not that I would want some of those to be traded.
I hope the Giants move Manaea if he opts in. Maybe others in the bullpen if it means an overall upgrade.
But to say the Giants only have “AAA” players is just BS.
It’s a team of AAA players. And I’m a giants fan!
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The comparison I used for Kapler is how many of the SFG players would start for the SDP? IMO, there is very little on the SF roster. A couple of SPs and a couple of RPs.
You’re comparing the Giants starting lineup to the Padres???!!! Talk about stacking the argument.
The Padres have one of the three most star-studded lineups in the game. Straw dog!
Plebs gonna plebbb
I couldn’t be happier gfan! Vive Farhan! Wohoooo!
Criticism is earned.
How long until Bob Melvin walk out on this team too?
how long before he walked out on Oakland? I expect that it should be a totally different situation since he worked with farhan on the A’s and they supposedly already have a good working relationship
Do you really think he waled from SD? You gave no thought to maybe Preller was pushing him?
@ Brady and Rey. Maybe the story lines that he was pushed or walked out both are incorrect, or at least, the truth lies somewhere in between.
More likely it’s that the Giants offer was too good to pass up. SF homegrown, going home to his dream job. SD would have liked him to stay (according to Preller and Seidler), but were let him go. I don’t fault Melvin for leaving, I think he’s a really good guy. I do take issue with his laid back hands-off coaching style though – hopefully he’s energized in SF..
Just watched the press conference the Padres held via zoom about him leaving and Melvin approached them about interviewing with the Giants.
Good. Let’s see what Melvin can do in terms of bringing back a SF Giants team for far more than a mere playoff contender…
So what team does he jump to next before his contract is up?
The Angels.
JM, can’t blame Bo-mel AJ Preller’s a loser.
You won’t get any argument from me about Preller, I was commenting how it becoming a trend for BoMel to jump ship before contracts are up.
it becoming a trend for BoMel to jump ship before contracts are up.
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How so? I was under the impression that Oakland was encouraging him to leave so they wouldn’t have to pay his salary?
James Midway, Those are two different situations. The A’s did Melvin a favor. They faced extreme cost cutting and rebuilding, resulting in them not being competitive, or even good, for the next few years (they lose 112 games this season). Plus, the Padres pursued Melvin, not the opposite. Condemning him for leaving the A’s is subjective BS.
And if the Padres wanted Melvin managing the team next season, he would be. They wanted him gone, but didn’t want to cough up $4M, by firing him. The Giants did them a favor. No matter how you feel about Melvin as a manager, his role in leaving teams to manage another is totally blameless.
Jean yes the situations were different but the result is the same. He bounced before his final year. So I will be on the lookout for where he goes in 25.
Okay, so despite all the mitigating factors, which you’ll ignore, you’ll purpose this flawed POV. Got it.
How often do mangers voluntarily leave before their contract is up and the team allow it? Not often at all and it’s happened to him twice in the last 3 years. Neither team wanted to pay his salary and basically gave him away.
Again, you’re totally ignoring the reasons why. Melvin managed the A’s for 11 years. And he’d probably still be there if the team hadn’t respected him so much that they allowed him to avoid what has now proven to be a difficult time as the team cut costs and rebuilt.
Clearly the reason for the Padres letting him go was the well-documented friction between him and Preller. The Padres let him go simply to save money.
There was no friction in Oakland. If Melvin had not minded passing up a golden opportunity to continue to manage a team that has averaged 107 losses in the last 2 seasons, he’d still be there. I suppose you would have turned down an offer from a team loaded with talent to manage a team without hope for anything close to a postseason appearance.
His reason for leaving the A’s is well documented and only someone desperately searching for negatives would make anything about it. Yours is about as superficial a take as any I’ve seen here, and that’s saying a lot.
Cool so the fact that he has ditched out of the last year of a contract in 2 of the last 3 years is not a thing got it. The fact that the reasons are different makes it even worse. It means there are more reasons for him to ditch a team than just one. So again waiting for the excuse when he ditches the Giants could be the same as the Padres or As or something new.
You found one odd aspect and you’re going to make the most of it, since it suits your narrative, regardless of what any of the reasons are. I respect how you can maintain such a consistent superficial assessment.
a closed mind is impossible to open..almost reminds me of a certain group of supporters of a previous president
I’ve heard Kelley Melvin doesnt like LA
I like the dual team icon!
I root for the Cubs, Dodgers and A’s, so not your teams – but I still like the icon!
YOU ROOT FOR THE DODGERS?!
Everyone is going to loose their minds over this but honestly I don’t think he’s done that bad of a job. When he took over the team had no prospects worth a damn, and while we haven’t seen a lot of the current prospects in the majors at least there’s guys to be excited about. He also did all this without causing the fan base to meltdown by trading away all the veteran players and has at the least had a team that’s been competitive for stretches of the season. He’s also found a lot of hidden gems like Yastrzemski and Wade. Biggest knock has probably been free agency, part of which is his fault for going after too many injury prone guys but some of it is bad luck like the Yankees matching our offer to Judge at the last minute and Correa’s physical. But overall I don’t thinks he’s been that bad, I just think Giants fans demand greatness and don’t realize what it takes for us to get there.
What’s far more concerning is the amount of people on the internet that screw up the words loose and lose.
Same with amount and number.
Number of people is correct.
Touché Steve, although I think you’re reaching here.
@Roy DeMeo MLTR rule #13: every grammatical or spelling correction must include a new grammatical or spelling error.
agree – I think people really forget where the team was at when he took over. I mean compare it to the reds or the phillies or the orioles – they all had a muuuuuch longer rebuilding period before they were even playing winning ball let alone being close to going into the post season. What farhan did was a full structural rebuilding of the team and it would have gone faster but there was covid, there was a lockout – those things delayed the progress of guys that we likely would have seen a year or 2 sooner
Yes and they never had the luxury of as many high draft picks as those teams.
@sqhishy, I’m in the middle, I don’t think he has done a horrible job with what he had, and the constant opt out’s players get is likely what it takes to get guys to sign here as it pretty much says they are not being signed as trade bait but to attempt to compete. But I feel like they should have made some obvious moves, chief among them to trade Madbum away when they could instead of holding onto him like they were going to extend him and then letting him walk. Likely this was a business decision and in the end a good one as they didn’t get tied up like the snakes did, and got some decent ticket sales and merchandise revenue out of him that last year, but I still think it was wrong to him wrong to fans, and could have offered a boost to the farm that would have equaled the value of any higher revenues gained the final year of that contract.
The problem with your take on Bumgarner is the assumption another team was willing to give up anything of value for 2 months of his services. He was in clear decline. His last season in SF, 2019, was not much above league average. His ERA+ was 9 points below 2018, 21 points below 2017, and 39 points below 2016. Other teams were well aware of this.
Zaidi hasn’t shown much sentimentality in holding on to players. That’s why Bumgarner wasn’t re-signed. With that in mind I have to think the only reason Bumgarner wasn’t traded was the offers, if any, just weren’t worth taking.
Giants fan’s heads just exploded with the news that they are stuck with Zaidi for 3 more years.
I’m not sure who Giants fans hate more, Farah or Kapler.
acoss13 — Do Giants fans “hate” Farah Fawcett?
Blame my phone for auto-correcting the name. But yes I meant “Farhan”.
Nobody hates Farrah. But I always preferred Kate Jackson.
Says a fan of a team whose GM is AJ Preller? lol. Dude are you allowed to post in Giants threads? Don’t you have to receive permission from the proper authorities first?
Says an attention-seeking troll username bc they don’t know how to discuss baseball knowledgeably.
You sure about that, bud? What’s the best predictor of future ERA – ERA, FIP, K/BB%, or SIERA? Or is it E) something else, and what?
Yes, I’m sure. There are plenty of other users like you on this site who offer no value and just clutter up the comment sections. Boring and a dime a dozen.
You got nothin lol. As expected. Stay in yo lane, pleb
You are such a troll that you created an account to dog a player? That is worth a mute.
Nah. The rational are good.
May I take the liberty of comparing the respective FO performance in changing managers.
Giants: Discord. Investigation. Decision. Action. Clean and professional.
Padres: Discord. Denial. Statements of 100% support.Everything is fine. Manger requests to leave. Padres say ok.
A FO clusterf&ck.
Quintain?
Zaidi is a top 5 GM. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn’t know ball
He’s is definitely top 5 in the NL West. You are correct sir.
@ Roy: good one!
@Roy I laughed and I’m ok with Zaidi.
Zaidi is overrated. 1 winning season out of 5 lol
Hard to be a Top 5 GM when you are not a GM.
Even if Zaidi were a GM he would not be Top 5 as he has accomplished, well, nothing to deserve a Top 5 position.
I love platoons. I love bullpen games. I want more platoons and bullpen games. Thank you so much.
Do you love waiver wire pick-ups? Lots of them?
How about some injury bounceback gambits and ex-Dodger roleplayers from 2015?
I love waiver pickups. I love injury discount players that end up getting injured and voiding said discount.
may I have another
@DanUgglasRing I love miserable whiners that don’t realize how many successful teams do these type of things or that the Giants winningest team in franchise history did all these things to a major degree.
Thanks I’ll remember that when we win 79 games.
I love all the tears. Highly entertaining.
I hope you also love mediocrity. I really want to be wrong and you can do a little touchdown dance but I don’t see that happening.
No I don’t love it all. Just prepared to endure it with a bit of class.
Ah yes, enduring mediocrity with class. It’s almost like we’re English football fans except we’re fans of one of the top five teams in MLB and they could totally do something about it.
I take a broader approach. It’s about being an adult and not behaving like a spoilt child.
They are constantly trying to do something about it. It’s just not how you want.
You see, I take a broader approach. It’s about being an adult and not behaving like a spoilt child.
My job as a fan is to do two things: be happy when my team wins and get mad when they lose. Acceptance is for death, not baseball.
Ha ha. You keep telling yourself that.
I wonder if Joe Maddon is going to get another chance to manage.
I liked Madden,mainly because he might give the SFG an insidetrack to Ohtani. Reality is Shohei is already a Dodger.
Heinie, I thought you died in 1971.
Maybe the Pobres?
No. Maddon is done. He hasn’t had a single interview even though he has said repeatedly that he would like to manage again.
OMG, it’s a “rebuild” !!!
I wonder why they chose to award Farhan with more years right now. Was that the only way to lure in a manager – to promise them that they weren’t going to be the victim of a lame duck front office? I think they should have used 2024 to evaluate Farhan before deciding on any further course of action. I guess if the Giants really sink like a rock this year, they can still can Farhan and just pay him to go away. Hopefully it won’t come to that.
It’s been said in the press that one of the reasons the Giants are re-signing Farhan thru 2026 is to stabilize the FO for both Melvin AND potential free agents. I can see the logic. I hope it works.
Farhan certainly tried to lure Bryce Harper to San Francisco, same with Aaron Judge, Carlos Correa maybe a few others I can’t think of right now. I guess my point is the Giants have had trouble signing a “superstar” player. But as you said the extension can only help with getting free agents to give the Giants a chance.
because it makes no sense to have a manager come in on a longer contract than the president of baseball ops – you could suddenly see without the possibility of a year 2 the whole org get flipped upside down. also this gives stability when negotiating with FA
Farhan is a reflection of the city and vice versa. It’s a good fit on-paper. Could see him becoming mayor of San Fran after this contract is done.
AGHHHHHHHH please tell me why??? WE ARE GONNA BE THE MOST MID TEAM EVER
Farhan has been, at best, an average GM. It was time to move on, and they didn’t. More in-and-out yard sale spectacles to come.
that is why he left the dodgers. that is where he was a GM. The giants have a GM named Pete Putila.
Giants fans get served a surprise portion of bad news during press conference.
The Giants need to SPEND MONEY!
Wisely.
The bigger news during the presser was not the announcement of Farhan and Melvin both being in SF through 2026, it was owner Greg Johnson’s tone deaf statement that they hope to “break even” every season. No fan wants to hear that especially with Joe Lacob of the Warriors just up 3rd street spending bundles.
I am stoked about Farhan though and if anyone can get the most out of ownership’s wishes to break even, he can
@agnes gooch Yeah, I wasn’t especially pleased with those comments Johnson made. Ain’t nobody buying that the Giants ownership is struggling to break even with their finances year to year. They may as well be printing money than pretending that they’re ever at risk of being in the red.
For the Johnson-ownership types, the value is in the equity with owning the team. Not the yearly profit/loss. Based on equity, Lacob is making an X multiple on every dollar he spends…
Running the stairs at 61 was bigger !
Go Bob. First time I’ve ever seen him speak. He’s a likeable man.
So much for all the certainty around Farhans make or break year.
Good work, Giants. Now get on with it.
The Giants just scored a helluva deal and I look forward to their instant leap into becoming serious WS contenders…
Gonna need to first add a few everyday players before casting them as contenders
Bob Melvin left a flawed setup. No question. The Padres can Padre better than any other Padre wannabes when it comes to side-eyed workplace gossip. He was all up in that.
AJ is a nice person and is very well-liked. Yet, put him on any media forum and his personal charm disappears. He comes off as a babbling double-talker incapable of being frank. You aren’t getting the fully-correct picture there. The owner, the only person that matters in this, is 100% behind him. No chance he’s fired.
But as a serial underling-meddler, AJ is completely miscast when working with a Marlboro Man. You know, type who doesn’t want to be asked by his boss how he has personally and professionally grown and improved since the last time he was asked that. Which was about 3-4 weeks ago.
There is a reason Bruce Bochy laughed off any notion of a return home to Petco Park. Predictably the outcome of his latest enterprise twists the knife a little bit deeper into Padres fans.
Bob Melvin was not good for the Padres on the field. Any number of ways, any number of reasons. We are going to see how Mike Shildt works out.
Melvin came across a bit prissy and snippy once he grew to dislike the entire AJ experience. With a baseball manager that naturally tends to leech onto the field.
Since it is doubtful he will be that way with his pal Zaidi, Bob Melvin wins this round.
I dunno, older I get the less fulfilling are my ideals and the more easily prissy/snippy I get, and it’s out of my control unless I have a few then I’m more delightful than ever.
Just saying Bob’s happy times with Zaidi might not go as Bob thought they might when a younger Bob pondered for decades this his ultimate personal homegrown dream job. As P. Townsend said new boss same as the old boss
and knife twist? As a San Diegan I’m just impressed so my new middle-age mantra is ‘be like bochy”
Please god, let Los Gigantes win 107 again. Bochy the Padres good, real good.
Seidler’s affection for Preller is not logically explainable. The team has two dead albatross contracts to regret, plus some other bad deals that players will never perform at their value.
The last 2 or 3 years before Zaidi were not good for the giants. Bochy was the manager, but the roster was just not competitive enough. Obviously, not Bochy’s fault. The roster is still not competitive enough (except 2021). If there’s no improvement, not much Melvin or any manager can do. We’ll see what Zaidi does this off- season. We’ ll know soon.
Did the padres can Melvin? If not why didn’t they ask for a player swap like when Grudden went from Oakland to Tampa in the nfl?
Because they wanted rid of him, but firing him means paying him. I’m sure they were delighted to hear he wanted to interview for the Giants opening.
San Diego is looking to shed contracts, money this offseason.
“…like when Grudden went from Oakland to Tampa…”
No, more like when Melvin went from Oakland to SD.
The Giants, of all teams/cities, did the tokenism tickbox exercise just to choose an elderly wm?
So no compensation from the Giants to the Padres to acquire the manager of a division foe ?
Obviously the Giants value profits over championships. They will continue making boatloads of money with Farhan looking for dumpster miracles instead of proven players. Melvin? This is the same Melvin that went nuts in Moneyball with Billy Beane dictating player lineups. What will make this experience different?
Not the same Melvin.
That was a movie…
It will be different cuz now it’s not
The old “making boatloads of money” go to. The accusation you make when you have run out of accusations.
You’re confusing Melvin with Art Howe
Melvin should do good without AJ “fingers in all the pies” Preller around. Worst GM in baseball.
So no compensation 4stealing current mngr by interdivision foe ? Preller shoulda tried2 get SF 2eat a bad contract in return or @least pried lotto tix mid tier prospect from them. Cost of doing business.
Niekro floater, Why should the Padres be compensated? They didn’t compensate the A’s when they hired him away from them while he was still under contract.
Assuming this is an extension that is based on show me year to year improvement along with improving minor league system. If he does not show any improvement he along with melvin will be out.
Net adversity for Giants fans.